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[Video feed gives way to a mostly dark room. A lamp in the far corner is dim, implying the bulb is likely on its last 'limbs'. Caim sits at his desk, so like the one he had before. Almost everything is the same, except the layout is a little different and the wall once filled with a mural in the making - later covered in black - is no longer there.

Idly the prince wonders what might have come of his room.

He makes no initial movements, simply sits and stares at his monitor. He seems more like a silhouette in those moments, but eventually his hands move. A bracelet on his left wrist makes a very soft sound as it meets his desk.]

Divine providence. It delights me not.

[It seems as good a greeting as any.]

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[ Oh, Caim, N is passive, but it doesn't mean he isn't vocal. He is a pacifist, but he is still strong and engaging in his own way. ]

I cannot fathom how the Headmasters would see redemption in you. You have murdered and maimed people in your time here. You even harmed one of my dearest friends!

How could you?!

[Caim's sighs on his end are silent - like everything else he could bother saying. This is hardly to be the last time he ever has a conversation like this one, where it's completely one-sided.

Regaining favour will certainly be a long road traveled.]

It is unnecessary to remind me of my felonies, however I do not dispute your words.

[And he's already attempted the 'why' conversation before. It's too long a story and he highly doubts N really gives a damn and would rather just fling verbal/written mud at him instead.]

[ In N's case, it may just be a dead end. That is, unless Caim really, really proves himself worthy. For the time being, however, there is no final destination in sight.

~~get it, get it, hurr~~ ]

Of course not. They are the truth, after all, and you...

Why? [ If only he could see the huge, disappointed frown on his face. ] Why did you seek gratification in murder? Was it for your own satisfaction... or was it vengeance, hatred?

[ He just can't understand. ]

[~~Lawl. Final Destination.~~

Caim begins to count the number of ways this continued conversation can go wrong. But he's still remembering Ai has told him. In the same way that a soldier hardly knows a life outside of fighting, he's not blind to the way the endless war has made him age far beyond his years.

War is unforgiving and though he made other people victims of his cruel fate, he has to admit that he is also a victim. Although it does not excuse his own behaviour; it simply explains it better.]

That is an exceedingly long and complicated story that you ask of me. Simply put, it was vengeance, but not personally against anyone here.

Things are not the same as they were then, or years prior to now. My outlook cannot be considered the same as it was then, as well.

[ How... suspicious. He's being awfully vague. Is he insisting upon doing so to cover something up, or is he actually telling the truth? N finds difficulty trusting in a murderer, let alone one of the very species he had prior conflict with. He is naive, but he is not stupid.

He'll have to press further. ]

Vengeance that was not against anyone here, not even those you killed? There is no need to take it out on innocent people. There is never a need.

Tell me, what is your outlook? What do you want your life to be? A life lived among others without guilt... or a dangerous life of deaths following you wherever you may go?

What do I wish for my life to be.

[This is a very good question. It's one that Caim can respect. And it wasn't until he'd been left on his own for the year that he'd actually considered it. So his response is a rather simple one.]

A war that I will succeed in, rather than a series of lost battles. A worthy cause that does not involve self-sacrifice. Something all soldiers likely would prefer.

Your greatest wish is to succeed in a war. You wish not to lose.

No one enjoys a loss as much as a victory, as far as I can discern, yet with losses can come lessons. Answer this:

Do you prefer to continue plowing through battlefields and killing, or would you prefer world peace, to no longer have to worry about battles to win or lose?

[ His own answer is obvious. Of course he isn't about to enjoy war. That sort of turmoil is just too much. ]

If you had asked me that when I did not know of the world's cruelty, I would have said that I wished for days of my adolescence to last. Where I come from, good things do not happen. Innocent people suffer. Innocent people die. Everyone is a soldier and everyone is fighting to survive.

And if you do not fight, you are dead in one way or another, be it in mind or in body.

Yet I choose not to return to my homeland. I should think my feelings on your question to be more obvious with the information I have chosen to give you.

[It has nothing to do with the idea that where he comes from Midgard is being destroyed by harpy-like versions of his sister.]

[ Now that is far more believable and gives him plenty more insight. So all Caim knew was to fight to survive, to kill. If he didn't, he would have die. He presumably thought this world was like his own, all where he had to kill to make it through life, despite the fact that it couldn't be farther from the truth.

That gets N to a point where he finally sobers up.

In a distant way, he is like him. ]

I have grown with ideals and customs different from many myself. I... can relate. It is a difficult transition to make, but you must realize that it is one you have to make.

Here, we needn't be at war at every given time. We humans, animals, Pokemon, and otherworldly beings can live in harmony here and forge friendships.

You must realize that murder is not taken so lightly in this world, yet now...

My guess is that you have realized this already.

[Caim seems to nod along. He understands everything N says and it seems like a plethora of things Ai would say as well.]

I would not say it was taken so lightly at home either, yet per the circumstance, it was deemed as necessary. I was ridiculed plenty by the dragon for my 'endless slaughter.' Dragons and humans are different, however, and do not share the same views on revenge or hatred, it would seem.

[He has only ever recalled how Angelus plainly thought herself above all humans. Caim wonders what she would think of him now. Is he more respectable, or is he weak?]

I cannot speak for your world's dragons, but my own... They are very peaceful, yet they, too, have had their conflicts. While they shaped my world to be the way it is now, it was a harrowing battle. Have you heard of the tale of the dragon and its two heroes, the tale of Reshiram and Zekrom's birth?

[ Well, N is derailing mighty fast, but at least it's still somewhat relevant. There's that? ]

[Any story that is less about him being asked to leave and return to a world where he's bound to get impaled by a series of unwelcoming... 'tentacles' is a story Caim finds he'd rather hear.

So this is what it's like to carry on conversation about something other than murder.]

I have not. I do not know anything of such names, or any tales of your own world.

[ So be it, then. He will tell him the tale, and while he is still uncertain about this one, perhaps giving him this much information is completely fine. It isn't as if he is giving the dragon Pokemon's locations, anyway. ]

Reshiram and Zekrom...

These two dragons were once one. They were once the dragon we now know as Kyurem, and it remained in harmony with two heroes, the founders of their regions. These two heroes began to quarrel, a battle of truths and ideals, and with that, the dragon split into two, leaving its living corpse, Kyurem itself, to wander off into abandon.

The battle that ensued tore the land of Unova as it was, shaping it to be what it is today... and soon enough, the battle ceased, the two heroes coming to terms and the dragons being sealed away into stones.

This is the tale that travels beyond even Unova's area. There are variations to the mythology, but it is all the very same basic concept, the very same truth.

[Caim reads N's words with intent as he quietly contemplates how the entire world is a difference of truths and ideals. The fact of the matter is that war itself, is the spawn of such differences, when people are not capable of being above barbarians and primitive creatures.

Perhaps that is why Angelus as always found humans so repulsive. They're most often selfish and entitled. Caim's fallen into that category himself before. As much as he wants to claim his endless slaughter of Empire 'swine' was for Furiae's torment, or for the justice of his parents, there's no denying he did it for himself.]

Then the world that this story is from resumed peace and tranquility.

Soldiers hardly have the optimism to have faith in such ideals.

Edited 2012-11-16 07:43 (UTC)

[ A pessimistic lack of faith, he takes it. No wonder he mercilessly kills, this one. He lacks hope for life and humanity, something that he is sure is very hampering.

His eyes shut for a moment as he thinks of what to say. N finds this subject to be incredibly fragile. ]

Ideals are black and truths are white. In this world, grey values also exist, some unwanted and some required by humans in their society. To face ideals would be to make what you aspire for a reality. To face the truth would be to take reality in mind while coinciding with these ideals.

Black and white... and grey.

To lose resolve would mean to fall into a grey area of truth. You find that the reality is a world of war, a world of never-ending turmoil, a world without peace. Your ideal world is that of peace, tranquility, the need for fighting and killing to be null and void.

This world... This world is not within those shades of grey. Our grey area of truth is far brighter, a reality of peace and harmony, much unlike your world. This may not be your ideal world, as that world would be yours reformed, but this world... It is the closest you may be able to obtain in regards to your dreams.

This world is peaceful and tranquil, yet your mind is still within the grey confines of your perceived truth. You must be ready to move into the world of your ideals. You must hold optimism that this may come to be, to see this city as a glimmer of hope, lest you never prepare your mind for your dreams and move on.

Faith is a very powerful concept, one that should be used in full. Please, utilize it.

[What a long story. Caim thinks these dragons from this other world are very, very different from the dragons in Midgard. Especially when he considers how ruthless and terrifying the black dragon was towards his parents and Angelus.]

You are certainly a vessel of knowledge.

This world is very different from the one that I came from. From a world where I could only fight tirelessly and endlessly to proceed on a failing path into one where... It is a world like mine before we were punished by the Watchers. I did not know such a thing could exist.

I have not said it to anyone so plainly, but if I had to choose between my world and this one, I would much rather be here. I have no intentions of soiling it with anything from Midgard, if it can be helped.

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